An intresting statistic....16% of U.S. households are multi-generational. I know what you are thinking "A lot of "boomerang" kids out there today", right? Wrong! Well..........half wrong anyways. Today it is an even split between "boomerang" kids and grandparents living with thier children. According to a recent Pew Research Study, 49 million Americans live in a multi-generational home. Of those, it is split evenly at 47% to 47% between "boomerang" families and "grandparents living with the kids". When I saw this article by Jenny Sullivan in Builder Magazine I thought it was worth spending a few moments contemplating the meaning.
O.K. What does this mean for home design? My gut-reaction is to think about bathroom design. Or, maybe more correctly stated, does the plan have enough bathrooms? Maybe we better think about the laundry room size and layout? Hmmmm...... kitchen design and function better, as always, be at the top of the list, too. I look forward to discussing these unique design ideas with all of you as we work thru the realities of this as time wears on. I was at a seminar about a year back where this topic was broached but I had never dreamed that we are up to 16% of households falling into this category.
I look forward to your feedback and letting me know what other ideas you have on this topic. One final note before I have a "certain" few friends (you know who you are) questioning my math skills, the other 6% of multi-generational households are grandparent-grandchild households...which brings us to 100%. I would not have guessed that category as high as 6% either.
Talk again soon!
Jason Halle
To read the complete article from Jenny Sullivan in Builder magazine follow the link below.
